Before leading Sony, Kaz Hirai was already something of a legend among PlayStation fans thanks to his more laid-back persona — pushed further by various memes and parodies. Who can forget the whole E3 2006 train wreck, after all? Funny enough, the real Kaz might have been just as cheeky as his internet counterpart. He admitted that when he was in charge of PlayStation, he used to shrug off whatever Sony headquarters told him to do.
“When I was president of Sony Computer Entertainment handling the PlayStation home console business, whenever Howard [Stringer] and the other executives told me this or that, I went my own way, saying, ‘What the headquarters says is irrelevant. We are PlayStation’ (laughs),” Hirai recalled. This amusing tidbit was shared during a conversation with Takaya Awata, CEO of Marugame Udon’s parent company Toridoll Holdings, published by Japanese business media Nikkei XTrend (paywalled).
He, however, also remembered that stepping into the boots of a Sony CEO was no easy task. When he took over the job, the company was actually in the red, with 160,000 worldwide staff, executives, and shareholders worried about how he could turn things around. One article even accused former CEO Howard Stringer of playing favorites, picking Kaz — someone who it claimed knows only of music and games — because he would laugh at his jokes.
“‘When will he pull the rug out from under us?’ or ‘Maybe he’s the kind of person who takes all the credit while blaming subordinates for failures?’, among other things, everyone was watching me with worry,” said Hirai. “Without respect, no one is going to think, ‘Let’s work hard together!'” To earn that trust, Hirai decided he basically needed to see them eye-to-eye and get everyone on the same page with his vision. “The first things I focused on were: ‘getting people to know me’ and ‘getting them to move in the same direction.'” he continued.
One of the ways to achieve it is by visiting Sony’s factories and offices around the world personally. Kaz said he even surprised TV production line staff by making time to come over directly not just twice, but three times. “During the six years I served as president, I visited over 20 countries and close to 50 cities, perhaps? Going just once isn’t enough,” he continued. He explained that employees initially doubted whether such a busy CEO would ever return after his first tour. But when he actually showed up again, their reactions were found to be amusing. “It was like, ‘He really came back, this old guy!’ (laughs),” reminisced Kaz.
But getting employees to trust him was only half the battle. This time, Hirai also needed Sony’s many divisions to work toward the same goal — rather than each doing its own thing like he once did at PlayStation. His solution for this issue was the ‘KANDO’ slogan, or creating emotionally moving experiences for customers. At first, employees thought he’d get bored and move on to another corporate jargon within a week or two. But after months of hearing “KANDO! KANDO!” from their boss, they eventually realized Kaz was actually ‘serious.’ Not long after, and even internal presentations began highlighting how their products could move people’s feelings.
Interestingly, Awata revealed that Hirai’s emphasis on KANDO also inspired Toridoll to incorporate the same concept into its own slogan. “When I saw a line of people at an udon shop that had an attached noodle-making facility, it came to me,” explained Awata. “Customers weren’t coming just for the product itself, they were coming for the ‘moving experience’ [kandou taiken] of eating freshly made udon prepared at the spot from flour.”
Kaz Hirai led Sony Computer Entertainment from 2006 to 2011, before being succeeded by Andrew House in September 2011. For more gaming news, interviews, and reviews, always keep an eye on GameObserver.
ObserverCrew Picks
bserver
bserver
